It's never an easy task going undefeated in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu — no matter what sport.

The third-ranked Maryknoll girls' basketball team put the final touches on a perfect 10-0 regular season with its 42-28 win over Punahou Saturday night, but truth be told, they couldn't sent the second or third team out on the floor and it wouldn't have mattered.

That's because the Spartans had already clinched the ILH regular season and a spot in the Division I state tournament next month, but instead of rest and recuperation, they opted to go for the gusto.

"We wanted to make sure we claimed home court for the (ILH) tournament and just in case we don't win the tournament, we wanted the ILH championship game at our place, so we needed to do that and win that game (Saturday)," Maryknoll coach Chico Furtado said.

Furtado's squad is perhaps the hottest team across the state. Their only loss of the year came in the preseason finale at Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman back on Dec. 13. Since then, the Spartans have won big — including three wins by 18 or more points — and small — including a one-point win over Punahou back on Jan. 8.

"We're getting better and we're getting kids that are contributing more," Furtado said. "We're also utilizing our bench. We brought up three JV girls, including Georjette Steitzel and Ysabelle Halemano."

Halemano scored five points in the fourth quarter of Saturday's win over Punahou, including a pivotal 3-pointer that extended Maryknoll's lead back to 10 with 2:25 to play.

"Ysabelle did a tremendous job tonight," Furtado said. "She's quick and athletic, so we can go a little deeper."

Maryknoll's depth proved to be too much for a short-handed Punahou team that was without sophomore guard Kamaile Kandiah (meniscus) for a sixth consecutive game.

"Right now, I think Punahou with Kamaile out, obviously that hurts them in their rotation, so we wanted to take advantage of that," Furtado said.

Alexis Delovio (nine points) was her usual steady self, while Maegen Martin (11 points, 10 rebounds) provided all the muscle needed inside.

The Spartans also have the luxury of bringing veterans like Lindsey Lee and Maya Rodrigues-Chang off the bench to help with the continued development of freshman point guard Rhianne Omori.

Martin, a 6-foot senior forward, believes this year's team is deeper than last year's group, which reached the quarterfinal round of the state tournament.

"Absolutely," Martin said. "Coach even says so himself that we have more depth on this team, so I think with that we know that we can go far."

As for the choice of playing to win Saturday?

"I think it would have been disappointing (if we didn't)," Martin said. "Even though it wouldn't have mattered, it would have hit me pretty hard, because I don't like to lose and I'm pretty sure my team doesn't like to lose either, but we came out good."